Category Archives: Just cuz

I caught Jeff the Genius on the drums

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I’m destined to catch Jeff on every instrument he can play.  I think next up, we’re going to hi-jack a 6th grade band classroom and let Jeff get after it.  None of that is scheduled, I just think it would be fun.

But until then, I’ll show you a video i took while Jeff was just dabbling on the drums at camp.

(If it isn’t obvious yet, I love bragging on my GSM team because they are awesome!)

Jeff the Genius

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I love hanging out with Jeff when he’s working on stuff for GSM.

He’s got some of the greatest ideas when it comes to thinking outside the box AND taking things that have been done before and making them 10 times better.

I love that about him considering nothing that we’re teaching or doing is 100% brand new.  So sometimes some of the best ideas we have are things we’ve never seen anyone do while other times it’s taking things we’ve seen done and making them better suited for our group.  (I only state this because I know creative people can sometimes have this bent that says in their head “if i didn’t come up with it, i’m not doing it”…if that was the case NOTHING would ever get done around our ministry.  So i think it’s great Jeff can do BOTH.)

(Sorry about the Preview image Jeff, i can’t do anything about it, YouTube picked it.)

Riley making it look easy

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I’m at camp having a blast!!!  But I just saw Riley at lunch (he’s one of our counselors) and it reminded me of this.

I posted this video on facebook too but I love it and figured I’d share here.  Riley’s one of the drummers in the GSM band, he’s a a high school student in GSM and the boys got skills.

What I look for in a mentor

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img_8301(This is no secret.  Mark Beeson is one of the greatest mentors on the planet!)

As I sit at camp this morning I can’t help but think about all the “mentoring” that is going to go on this week.  Mentoring is one of my passion areas and I study Paul and Timothy a lot to see how to get better at both ends of it. 

I’ve always had a really closed mind about mentoring relationships.  I believe that while I can learn from anyone, there are flat out some people I DON’T want to learn from.  Just sayin.

Here’s some things I’ve always looked for in a mentor:

1. Unforced Relationship.  Don’t try to force it, if it doesn’t happen naturally, let it go.
2. Mutually beneficial.  It shouldn’t be one-sided, both people should benefit from the interaction.
3. Reputation.  This one is a soft-side sort of judgment call but I actively seek people who have a good track record or some history of success when it comes to mentoring.
4. Knowledge in an area i’m pursing.  Is there legitimately an area this person can help me with.
5. Trustworthy.  Can I trust them with my life, family, thoughts, vision, dreams, innovations.

(Just to name a few of the big ones.)

 

Some things you deliberately did not see on my list:

1. MOST sought after.  I could care less who MOST PEOPLE wish they could be mentored by.  I need what I need.
2. MOST recognized.  I don’t look for the most recognizable person and seek a relationship with them.
3. Credentials. Sometimes there’s an area I need help with that doesn’t require a PH.D it simply requires life experience. 
4. Older.  I don’t deliberately look for someone older than me.

(Note: if a person has these, it’s not a knock against them by any means.  These are just things that I don’t specifically look for in a mentoring relationship.)

If you haven't read this, you should.

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This post was right on the money.  This topic has been on my mind for a LOOOONG time and Tony did a great job of throwing some obvious truth into the mix of things to think about.

Here’s a glimpse:

“While the church still leans on a mix of rock and pop music as the preferred worship genre, our culture has shifted once again. Now, according to iTunes, 1 in 3 of the top 100 songs in the country is either hip-hop/rap or R&B/soul. My guess, though, is that you can’t name a church in the country that’s using these genres of music for worship. Why is that?

Now, before you let your “it’s-not-our-culture” bias set in, consider this. Most of the hip-hop and R&B music has been recorded by black artists. 14% of the U.S. population is black. But, remember, nearly one-third of the music purchased on iTunes is one of these two genres. You do the math. White people like hip-hop.”

Later in the post he wrote…

  • The people making decisions about music choices in services don’t prefer this style of music. And, don’t we all know, preferences drive decisions in churches.
  • Churches are not hiring worship leaders (or raising up volunteers) who can authentically lead worship with these genres of music.
  • Christian artists aren’t recording music that reflects what our culture is listening to.
  • Churches don’t know the culture they’re trying to reach. If a third of the country is buying hip-hop or R&B music, you’d think at least one church would be trying to use that style of music to reach those people for Jesus.

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    Read more: HERE